Here I Stand
by Heroism
Summary: When Elsa fled at her coronation, Anna ended up becoming Queen of Arendelle in her place. 6 years have passed and Anna's darkest secret threatens to be revealed as the regency reaps and sows a path of discord across the kingdom. Can Anna reconcile things with her sister, or will the ensuing revelations drive them apart? (Icest/Eventual Elsanna/Alternate Arendelle)
1. Chapter 1

There she stood, armored and glistening in the winter sun. Her blade was masterfully burnished—forged from the remains of great weapons before. It was said to be indestructible.

The cold wind was welcome, brisk. It ruffled the ends of her cape as she stared onward. The mountains looked utterly breathtaking in the backdrop. Clouds billowed by slowly and melded with the snowcaps all around.

Stood on the highest plateau in all the land, relishing in the light of day.

From the edge of the faux-horizon, her expected approaches. A tousled mass of platinum blonde billowed as the sun shimmered upon it. Strident; grand; deliberate. Her gown was of utmost intricacy, but all varying shades of blue. Parts of it were still hidden from view as she reached the summit. Her icy breast plate shone a piercing brilliance, the natural blues, magentas and golds of her ice shimmering outward in rays—a valkyrie of ice and snow.

The snow gave way as she ceased her movement no more than twenty feet away from the other. Wind blew forth between them, from the east. The other had her eyes closed, hands situated atop her blade as it stood sheathed between her feet. The head of crimson shifted upward just slightly.

"I'm surprised you came," she said, finally meeting gaze with the blonde. The echo of her words was of little surprise atop the North Mountain. The wind changed angle slightly, lessening in strength to a low whistle.

"I looked _everywhere_ for you." Those deep blue orbs bore into her, though holding composure. The emphasis on where she looked was hard not to notice.

"Me?" Anna relaxed her hands atop the longsword in a shrug, giving the other a quizzical look. "Elsa, I don't understand. You call me to the top of a mountain after years of absence, and expect me to put it all to side." Her sister's off-handed response did not sit well with her. "You were _gone,_ Elsa. I looked for _you._"

She had said it with the blessed assurance of a queen, that which she ascended to after the painful memory—the revelation in a flash of ice.

"And you never even came back," she said with a hint of hurt in her voice. Reaching up to put a stray hair back in place behind her ear, she looked off into the vast expanse. The blue sky felt freeing, like looking into the soul of the world.

The sigh from in front of her was subtle, but it commanded her attention to the fore. Her eyes widened as those slender arms hung down to the side, head shaking.

"Anna, I.. it wasn't what I intended—"

"Elsa, I swear, as Queen, if you don't cut to the chase, this will not be pretty." She huffed exasperatedly, something she would've done in the time Elsa still knew her. "Please, no secrets."

Elsa's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of such a sudden shift from commanding to endearing.

"Do you still love me?"

Even she couldn't believe she had said it. After five years of absence, her first priority made itself obvious. As she looked across, the dubious stare left her uneasy.

"I loved you like a sister, Elsa. I wanted to spend every day with you, grow with you; and then coronation day came and I felt so proud of you." She pulled in breath as her eyes screwed shut, the emotion clear in her face. She gulped hard, and then let the light into her eyes. "I met a man, who I now know to be traitorous scum, asked for your blessing, and then.. you know the rest."

In a single movement, the golden-clad Anna removed her sword from its spot on the ground to a specially-made holding place on her waist. Her left hand lingered on the sheath absentmindedly. Her leer hadn't moved from the ground.

Elsa merely stood unsure.

"Yes, Elsa."

But that gave her a rather decisive indication—

"Stop."

Elsa halted herself mid-run as the command hit her. The toothy grin that had been thrown onto her face at a moment's notice at the very word, as well as her flying legs, ceased.

As she looked over to see the Queen's face quivering slightly, her face grew concerned.

And then she was knocked from her standing position in a flash. She could vaguely feel the blunt end of the sword press into her abdomen suddenly, and then she noticed a gasp of snow leave the ground as her back met it. The next thing she felt, however, would be remembered forever.

"How could you know what it was like!?" The tears trickling onto her neck were the first she had felt in many years. "I was literally talking to a door for thirteen years—after ten of which our parents died, and then you left, leaving everyone to assume you were a monster while I had no way of proving them wrong." Her sniffles resounded like the peals of a powerful bell. "And then my dumb love ended up with an attempt on my life, which I had to settle myself. I _murdered _him, Elsa! I ended his life after what he said he'd do to you and our people! People told me that our parents would be proud, and they didn't even bother to mention you! Do you have _any idea_ what that was like!? I had lived my entire life up until that point and then you _vanished. _I had believed that I could make things right, but after two years of looking for you in places all over this Earth, I.. I-I gave up on you Elsa!"

The body atop her shifted and set its face to the right of hers, still sobbing. "I couldn't believe it, but I did. I failed you, Elsa—it may have been one hell of a wait, but you kept true and I didn't." Anna felt a hand at her back tap lightly at the armor. In a moment, she sat up and removed the protective plate and resumed her position atop Elsa. "You know how I know?" Elsa nodded to continue beneath her sister. "Because I found mother and father's scrolls hidden in their room. They said we'd only look for them if something happened to either of us—something bad. And they were right. Mom wrote about how my memories of your powers were erased and dad wrote about how you were just keeping me safe all those years.. well, trying to."

Anna then sprung up and pulled Elsa off the snow, hand reaching back to undo her armor. Upon realizing this, Elsa dissipated the creation before her very eyes, earning a gasp. Anna looked at her wistfully as they sat together in the field of white.

"But none of that came close to what they wrote about you. They said that you never stopped talking about me, not even in passing. They said you were always concerned about me when new arrangements were made. And even if I never heard a word of it," she said, a blush spreading to her face, "I knew that it was true."

Her hand reached out to touch the pale face before her, the owner of which was losing a battle with tears. "If you loved me that much, then how could I ever do the same for you?" She closed the distance in a breath-knocking hug. Elsa finally let go and the tears dampened the shoulder in front of her, the sobs reaching her ears just as quickly. She cried from the depths of her soul.

"It's true! It's all true, Anna! You were never away from my mind—not even one day went by without you in it, I always made sure." She pulled back and stared into those mesmerizing teal eyes, saying, "I hated every moment I was gone." She copied Anna's positioning from earlier as she laid her head to the side of her sister's. "Oh, Anna, if you'll allow it, I'll tell you from the beginning how I came to learn how wrong I was." Her hands reached up and wrapped around Anna's neck. "I won't spare a single detail."

Despite wanting to ask what she was wrong about, Anna nodded against her sister and promised she'd listen.

* * *

><p>The air was warm, made so by the fire burning in the parlor. The steam rose in small plumes above their drinks. They had been talking now for hours; where Elsa'd been; what things Anna had done as Queen.<p>

"So you're still without a King?" asked Elsa. She noticed her hand had become slightly clammy flush against the hot mug.

"Well, yes, but I'm far from helpless. I once led a regimen against Berk when they tried their hand at sieging us," replied the Queen.

"That steel at your side isn't just for show then." The blonde had felt that its presence at her side was naught more than a symbol of her stature. She would've expected it from her. But apparently it was crafted for her by some uncredited faction that was particularly fond of her crowning.

"Well, what did you expect," she said, placing a hand on the scabbard and relishing in the clink of metal, "this is your _sister_ we're talking about." She laughed, then her eyes met the floor. "Which leads me to say that I've done an awful lot of talking about myself." She fiddled her hands with her drink. "W-well?" She put her cup down with a pout. "Dammit Elsa, I'm the Queen. I'm not supposed to be stammering."

"Oh Anna," Elsa said, punctuating her endearment with a giggle, "all you had to do was ask." The redhead slumped over in shame.

"What am I ever to do with you?"

"Hm.. let's start with my banishment." Her sister's back suddenly went ram-rod straight, jostling her chair.

"Your _what_!?" Anna nearly snapped in two from surprise.

"My banishment," Elsa repeated, perhaps somewhat fittingly unfeeling in regards to her own words. Anna still was looking at her probingly. "I didn't stutter did I?" Anna shrank under her eyes.

"No. No, you didn't." Elsa sighed.

"Anna, this isn't easy to talk about—"

"And talking about your powers was? If I'd have known that you could control ice and snow, I would've always been there for you if you shut me out or not." She then clapped her mouth shut, hoping she didn't just open a whole other can of worms. Her older sister laughed.

"You didn't let me finish. But I guess the main reason that was easy to talk about was because I have control over my powers now.

"Yes, that may have been the reason I shut you out for so long and it may have been why our parents were so _intent_ on me studying. I just didn't want you getting hurt. Now that's not such an issue.

"But what _is_ is that I've never told anyone about this point in my life; my time as an overseer. Okay, maybe one other soul, but—" she caught how Anna's face scrunched, "that can wait."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This was originally all I had written until a few days ago. Next chapter begins the real story I guess you could say—the Elsanna is a long ways off. Till then.**


	2. Chapter 2

_As her majesty wishes, _they say. _As her majesty commands, _they say. Nothing ever seemed to make sense anymore to the redhead. Months had passed, things had changed. What had once been her small kingdom of rising prosper became a land of deceit and fallout.

The regency that had been put in place by her father had led an insurgence against her, unbeknowenst to everyone except for her, and obviously them. There she stood at the edge of her balcony, at the edges of a foreign land in places she'd never know the name of. She stared out, wondering what the Queen of Arendelle was thinking.

The events played out in her head like an odd memory of odd color; perhaps lacking in color, in fact. As she looked out, she could still hear what they had said. "She was born to rule." What they said next had hurt her beyond repair. "You were the spare."

But somehow; somewhere, there was a submissiveness within her to yield to what was best. And, somehow, she knew that yielding the power of rule to her elder sister was just that. If it had come down to a real conflict, then she no doubt would have emerged undisputedly victorious. Her battle prowess with her nameless blade was known to be particularly harrowing.

Kingdoms from all around revered her as a beast among men. It had given her pride; assurance. But they had certainly not done her in proper. She had done some snooping around in their stuffy meetings to discover that, in fact, it was a ploy. There were plots and various things to do away with her via dragon fire, assassination, magic—any manner of things. But those closest to her gave her the low-down. Kai and Gerda had never done her wrong. They may not have told her all that they knew about Elsa's past, but that she had done well enough to unearth on her own.

In the months they had had together, Elsa had told her of lost love and a journey of self-reigning; a search for freedom. She couldn't help but feel it was a freedom she had put a stopper on in some way, but the blonde had always assured her that it was naught in any such way.

"You're my life, Anna," she had said. "You're the ray of Sun in Arendelle," she had said, as if the sun itself was merely some grossly incandescent wannabe. It made her brow scrunch in annoyance, the flattery it did. But some other part of her warmed at it. Such is the way of having a loving sister—even so, a much unknown one. No amount of explanation can make up for a lack of experience in any case. Anna knew that well enough.

Her days as Queen spent consulting the same paintings on the wall as she had done as a girl were hollow and moot. Well enough she had known that talking _to_ problems was no way to deal with them. But that would imply that Elsa was a problem, and that she wasn't sure was even close to what she'd call the truth. The truth, after all, was a bitter thing. Like the fact that Elsa had been banished in the first place.

"Agdar and Idun didn't believe I could control it; didn't believe I could rule." That was what she'd said. Apparently her own parents didn't faith have in their crowned princess, and that was something that the younger had always had. It did, nevertheless, wane quite a lot when faced with the shifting times. The sands did move and sway in ways that little made sense to her. It got so bad at times that issues of royal advisory and trade seemed better company, and that didn't bode well with her at all.

But nothing bade worse than seeing Elsa's face when she left. It had looked so pained.

"Don't go." she said. It came out almost distraught. But only Anna could know. If Elsa had known what the regency had against her, it could have meant fire and brimstone upon the kingdom. Except that would be especially ironic. It would be more accurate to say hail and storm eternal, for the revelation would surely incite untold rage from the new Queen—the lost Queen.

"It all began at the outskirts of a far-off land," she said, putting down her coffee. Anna had been so interested to hear what exactly there was to know about where she'd been all that time. The absence that had been kickstarted by her foolish attempted marriage; vying for her sister's approval. The very event that had brought about the virulent lashing of ice and magic from an untold time. With her parents gone, it fell to the elder to make known to the younger that her memories of such things were done away with.

"Then why did they banish you?" Anna asked. It didn't make sense to apparently favor one, especially if it meant purging the memories of one. But the then-king had been very firm in his preference of Anna. He saw a pure, unadulterated spirit in her that was more Arendellian; more warrior-like. He admired that more than a sort of eerie magic that he couldn't lay claim to. It had frightened him, as much he would hate to admit it. It was the same for many in his immediate company.

The possibility of Elsa's magic undoing itself and releasing chaos presented itself as an ever-present threat to not just the royal family—Anna—but to however many others, as well, should it grow. Elsa was now the only one to remember what Pabbie had said that fateful day, that her magic would grow to become something she'd never imagined.

She had seen it develop in her time away from Arendelle; she had seen it flourish into untold power and beauty. But there was always the risk of it becoming too much, there was always the risk of her losing control. And she knew that Pabbie was right. No amount of letting it go or concealing the truth could hide the fact that it was dangerous.

She was too introverted, far too folded in on herself to even pretend that it couldn't harm her precious sister. The blonde had at one time wondered why she even still thought about her, but realized that the thought made no sense whatsoever.

Anna had always been her impetus, her fuel with which to go into the day without fear. But it seemed to be double-edged in more ways than one. Where Agdar had taught her _Conceal, don't feel, _she had come up with something else entirely. It wasn't so much a mantra as it was a statement of the facts that be.

Standing at her balcony, just outside her bedchambers, she had called into the night.

"Where there is strength, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is the possibility of failure." But that alone didn't fully voice what she thought; far from it. Anna was her strength _and _her hope. But, like with anything else, there was the possibility that it could be engulfed in a frozen inferno. She could see it playing out before her eyes, something which caused her to screw them shut in an instant.

She had gone to bed that night to the same familiar restless sleep, the sheets moving about and telling a tale to the servant who came in to make her bed. They had all observed her change in demeanor; how it seemed for her to drag on without any real cause. For, not even she knew what to expect.

Anna alone had been one to know what the royals remaining had against her, and it was enough for her to concede the ability to rule without so much as an argument. She could still hear their accusatory air, their oppressive presentation. It was nothing she could refute; nothing she could deny, and certainly nothing that anyone would accept.

But things had changed. Those royals had militarized Arendelle into a war state while the Queen sat by in fears that utilization of her powers would be too great a danger, regardless of whatever endeavor should call into question. Where once before there had been a bustling market with open gates and a friendly auburn-haired queen with a battle record to be proud of, there was famine and distraught people with a pale siren of a monarch with a corrupt panel of rulers.

Anna shook her head at the thought. Agdar had trusted them. He had given them the benefit of the doubt in all cases—hell, that's what good rulers did: trusting those who seemed to deserve it. Only.. Anna had never known them in the same way, and didn't rightfully believe that she ever could. Every day the sun would rise and set, giving ebb and flow to her many doubts of the shady figures that would pass in and out of proceedings as if they were nothing more than idle gossip.

It had sickened her to think that at no level did it stop for these people. For them, nothing was too juicy to be kept from the conniving ranks of the bass-ackwards bureaucrats. Her own department of investigation had never yielded shred nor hair of their existence, much to the dismay of her knowing, for sure, that they were there. They had always been there.

It harkened back to a tale Idun had told her and Elsa together—a tale of a general who expected to return home to the welcome he deserved, but was instead manipulated into a public spectacle to show how the tides of war made a man selfish. It seemed like a self-juxtaposition, because the underlying message was that those in the shadows will vie for all the power in the world, even when they must take it from those who don't actually have it. After all, men are only what other men make of themselves, except for the fortunate few who manage to never give a damn.

But even after all that, Elsa had been the studious one, Anna the more adventurous one. They grew up decisively different, though always thinking of the other. The memories of that day still haunted the elder—that day when she struck her little sister in the head with a bolt of ice unintentionally. It had devastated her, it had devastated everything about her. But at least her holdfast to the world was still alive and breathing. And she had lived to become Queen, had lived to see the world. But, as Elsa was fast discovering, neither of them had truly seen it for what it was.

Anna had been given an easy ticket by comparison, though she would never tell her that. These days, she wasn't sure if she'd ever get the chance to tell her again. They all melded together, so much unlike the days she'd spent away from her country adventuring and using her powers to discover things she never knew; even meeting a few others like her. But Anna had seen the military life first-hand. She could command, and could fight like no other man or woman alive.

Indeed, the one possession that she wouldn't dare part with, even with the leverage put upon her by the corrupt royals, was that nameless blade. As she stood outside looking up to the stars, she laid her hand upon it and stroked along it to make sure it was still there. It was without a doubt her primary source of pride, and perhaps in a way her rightful birthright. She had imagined that, had her parents cared enough, they probably would've given her such a boon.

But, alas, such a thing had never come to pass. And Elsa had had to live with ice powers all along. It made her feel selfish to think that she had experienced much the same anguish; what with having to rule in the first place.

"She just left," Anna said to Joan. "She either couldn't stand me that much, or she didn't want to rule." But, thinking about it, Elsa didn't really seem _that _unpersonable. She couldn't help but think that day after Elsa left of her own volition, _What was with the ice?_ But that wasn't it at all. Their parents had banished her posthumously. Three years had passed since that time of her sending, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Anna. She couldn't dare even imagine what in the world would happen should she ever. But that day, seeing Anna so caught in the throes of young love and totally unaware of the dangers of strangers, it made her snap.

Sadness still rang true in her eyes, however. Anna could tell that sky blue surrounded by storm clouds in any weather or whereabouts. For as little as Elsa had seen her, or at least from what she knew, and as little as Anna had seen her, she still knew that Elsa's eyes were never meant to be so devoid of color as they had been on that day; like the light had faded. Was it to mean, perhaps, that Anna would leave her? Was that what Elsa thought?

Looking back at that night, she really couldn't tell. Her final words to the blonde before their prolonged parting had done little to dissuade from such a conclusion. "_What are you so afraid of_!?" She really, truly, had wanted to know. It was like all the years behind her had been pent-up into a flour mold and were being baked to the absolute maximum point of tolerance, exploding into a massive mess. It didn't make sense to her. But for the next years, it almost did when Elsa replied with, "_I said ENOUGH!_"

Seeing her hardened expression, that queenly visage lose all strength and collapse in upon itself was not something the soon-to-be queen had expected in the least. And then she vanished. Much as Anna had chased her down, it led her to nothing more than dust and echoes, filtering in and out through that cold night in her memory.

None of that mattered anymore. Elsa stood once again at her balcony as she had done so many nights before. Little did she know that her younger sister was doing much the same outside of the miserable country—hoping to be reunited with her once again.

Elsa called out into the night, her breath lingering in the cold air, though it had never bothered her.

"Anna.. _my hope.._ come back to me." It was all she could think to say. It was all she _could _say. Such tribulation had whittled her to new lows. It tested her to the very limits, those which only seeing her hope once again could soothe.

Releasing her grip on her blade, Anna did much the same, looking to the crescent moon dominating the skyline. A single tear rolled down her cheek. She would see her sister again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Men," she began, totally unsure of herself, looking across the row of vagrants who would help her lay waste to the Arendelle just beyond their faction's station. They had been preparing for this day for many days on end, all in expectancy of seeing the Queen return to her rightful place that was once hers. But Anna knew that they knew she didn't feel that way. It was simply that they needed something tangible; something to latch onto if they were to march headlong into the militarized area with such reckless abandon that surely no military specialist with half a brain would approve of what they were about to do. The knowledge that Anna had would certainly dissuade that, so she held face as she stared upon them. She made sure her voice rang clear in the cold forest air.

"We stand here today to reclaim Arendelle from the frauds that took it from us. And I, for one, will see it through." Her eyes landed to her one true friend, Kristoff Bjorgman; the one who had given her consolation in Elsa's absence. Her eyes warmed. "I care not what resistance meets us. _They _will do nothing against _this_," she said, unsheathing her legendary blade. The metal sung a tune of sorrowful reclamation as she raised it high above her head. Standing just before them all not more than 10 feet away, she looked like a judge of death. And the verdict had yet to be delivered.

She heard the collective oohs and ahs of the ones before her, and her lip curved into a smile that she hardly believed herself capable of. But on this day of days, it would be needed to provide the strength necessary to storm through barriers of the most impassable kind.

"Am I right?" she asked, brow raising in question. The men nodded, but it seemed too lacking in assurance to quell her doubts rearing. One of them stepped forward, and Anna nearly started.

"If I may," he said, half-bowing to the valkyrie. She looked on shakily, but gave swift reply in the affirmative. He returned the gesture with a smile, then moved further away from the line to state his case. Clearing his throat, "I'll cut to the chase." He threw his arm back over his shoulder, allowing the focus to be drawn to the sweeping vista in the background. The mountains looked endless in the background. They stood some immeasurable distance away from the outskirts, high up on a clearing on a mountain overlooking. The clouds of midmorning obscured the light ominously.

He retracted his arm, turning to face the men in the eye. He counted them all out in a cursory motion. There couldn't have been more than 250 of them gathered between himself and Anna. He still could barely come to terms with the fact that the former queen had such support from others that barely knew her—and even more so that they were willing to see it through to the end. They had already journeyed far from a distant land to here. Only one stretch remained. Their company had come a long way.

"What I can say could perhaps be better said by this wonderful woman; this _Queen, _but I will give her the rest that this battle is sure to rid her of. We have come far. Our tents have moved with us, our meals have been small but well-deserved. The elements have been against us at every turn, but we have persevered. What had, at once, seemed like merely a blizzard has proved itself to be a curse upon us by the Queen herself. I know because Anna knows, and now so do we all. This last initiative, this last stretch to reclaim Arendelle from traitors is the only thing separating us from ruling a land proper—without lies, without deceit, and without the false pretenses of prosperity. These bastards have done nothing but turn one of Europe's strongest providers of armaments into a constant warzone, and at what cost? We _hear _of famine. We _hear _of struggle. Yet all we can see are the thickest walls of ice the world has likely ever seen. Glaciers pale and massive could take a lesson. And they keep us from our home."

They had been so lucky to find the bravest of the refugees. Anna had been the first to leave by a far margin, but Kristoff had fled not soon after upon realizing that he was alone in the castle. He knew not a thing about Elsa, but he knew for certain that she was out of sorts almost immediately when the regency assumed primary ruling responsibilities. The Queen almost seemed as if she had been reduced to a calculating face and not much more. It disturbed him deeply. So he had left, with Sven, out beyond the borders in hopes of discovering where his long-time friend had gone off to; but seeing as how things at the kingdom were quickly heading south, he had more than a good reason to do so. He remembered the wind pelting him that night as he pressed on into the bitter cold. It felt almost distinctly magical.

Upon finding her nearly 20 miles removed from her homeland, it seemed rather interesting for her to be in a bar of all places, just unwinding it seemed; though the sword never left her side. They had both deemed it appropriate to celebrate the glum spirits together, looking around each other to see just how like-minded many of them apparently felt—those around them, of course. They all looked so preoccupied with things of their own. It seemed impossible that any of them would understand their own issues, so it seemed unthinkable to ask any of them for assistance in, say, reclaiming a kingdom. They, together, understood that whatever had whisked them away from the land had been rather foreboding; rather uninviting and distinctly bitter. It was like winter had come and would never leave, and in the middle of summer, no less.

Following that night of sheer uncertainty and near despair, they had spent the days and nights afterward conspiring and thinking of any way they could take back Arendelle. But that didn't come without Kristoff demanding why things had suddenly turned icy. He was one of the few close enough to the royal family to know the source of it, but certainly not the reason as to why it was so _severe. _As Anna's distant cousin and resident Ice Master, it had more than enough given him status to know of Elsa. Anna had even asked him to establish a watch in hopes of intercepting her whilst she was still missing from the country. She really believed it would work, and he hoped it would. But they both knew the manic phase would be quick to pass. It was ephemeral, like most split-second things. But he would not, could not allow himself to make the disparaging noticeable to Anna. It was his job. She was _depending_ on him. He couldn't let her down.

The watch, consisting of quite a few men, to be fair, was rather moot to say the least. He had known that it would be. Those years had been punctuated by much silence and many broken hopes. But this was different. They knew right where the Queen was; holed up in the castle, guarded by many men with ill intent. The element of surprise was on their side. Feeling a lull in the wind, he continued.

"Anna of Arendelle, the rightful Queen, was ousted by the regency head Fhin for reasons that cannot be disclosed. And in her place, her older sister Elsa was given the throne. She, despite powers over winter, has demonstrated lackluster capability in turning a kingdom's situation around." He looked down the mountain at the kingdom below. "It makes me wonder just what the hell's been going on down there, as I'm sure it does for all of us. What motivates these people? What reasons do they have to drive us apart?" He didn't expect an answer to come from his questioning. He really didn't know what to think himself. "No, men," he said, looking to Anna once again, "what I propose is that we forget all of that." He unsheathed his own sword, staking it into the ground. "We know that the only thing that is right—Anna as Queen—is not so."

A man from the third line stood forth, offering the same gesture in salute. Slowly but surely they all followed suit. By the time the whole lot of them had planted their swords in the ground the wind had already picked back up into a howl, but it would stir them not. Sentries they were; disciples of hers they were. They were all bowing to the rightful Queen. Anna could feel an uplifting feeling in her gut at the sight. Turning round to face alone at the lands beyond, she whispered into the wind.

"The day has finally come."

* * *

><p>The throne room was completely and utterly devoid of life. There blew a small breeze in through the windows, a patch of sunlight spilling onto the floor irregularly. It seemed as if there were clouds obscuring everything from view. No one would expect even a single occupant to be in such a place, certainly no one without a death wish.<p>

It was _frigid. _A single breath mingling with the air was the only sign of something conscious. It creaked its way out almost forcefully from the owner, sounding only the necessary motions of respiration. She said nothing, thought nothing. It had been this way for so long it had seemed. She would sit in this room in complete lack of company, just milling about to herself.

It never quite occurred to her when everything changed. She could vaguely remember something red in her vision, but then one day the memories became so hopelessly blocked that she couldn't even care to remember them anymore. This throne was the only spot that she could find solace with anything; what with royal proceedings having been moved out into the courtyard for all citizens to attend. She had grown so apathetic, so unbecoming of Queen Elsa. But the lack of responsibility was the most free she could even imagine herself being.

So many people had come and gone to complain to her and her alone, sensing something was amok with the regency, but it surprised them all for her to say, with such utter simplicity, "I know." Most were appalled to the point of outright leaving without a word. Some were immensely saddened, others angered measurelessly. One particular case had almost made her remember what it felt like to _feel _anything again. But it was still a sorry sight. A boy had once come to her bearing news of orphanage; both parents killed for stealing. Whatever reasons had led him to assume that the Queen alone was fit to offer him sympathy, she couldn't say. It nevertheless didn't change the fact that she felt an unmistakable sympathetic resonance with the child.

Somewhere, some part of her mind called out for her to recall something, but it was no longer there. As she saw the boy broken down on the chilling floor bawling out, it moved her just enough to evoke the sort of response that was called for. As she moved noiselessly to embrace the lad, she couldn't control the tears streaming from her own face. It confused her, but she supposed that the beauty of such a moment came from in that it didn't have to make sense. Offering that sort of consolation made her feel the most human she had in ages. But that seemed like an eternity ago now that she sat in the same place—more confused than ever. The perplexity had certainly not gone a diet, it was doing flips and acrobatics like no one's business all about her mind.

A feeling of stagnation nagged away at her, but she knew not where from, or more importantly why. Every day it seemed that this call to action was getting more and more urgent, but she knew not why. The royal cooks still gave her three meals a day, and that she figured she was thankful for. She couldn't live without food, after all. Though the chocolate no longer gave her the sort of bliss she had longed for, had _gotten _all those years ago. Every single memory of the stuff seemed to be missing something of such critical importance that it made her head spin at nearly every turn.

Where there should've been this rapturous tune of just _happy _playing through her head, there was nothing more than the emptiness of questioning. And that she had always done without any outside help, or whatever you'd call this bizarre quirk of introversion. Yet despite everything she'd bother to take in to digest mentally, there was so obviously this critical thing missing from her. At times it felt like a poker was being shoved in and twisted in her brains. She could think in circles for literally hours and never get anywhere. It seemed impossible, but everything kept leading back to this recurring flash of red in her visual sense; this feeling of warmth in her sense of feeling; unmatched sonority in her sense of sound; flowery to the smell; and, well, taste didn't really seem applicable—but behind everything there was this feeling of compulsion that shook her every which way.

She had no idea what it was. Her mother and father had once told her of something called love; that it was something you gave unconditionally. But, despite the age-old prospect of loving and respecting thy parents, she couldn't think of any other she had given such a person _love. _The hole in her seemed to fill just slightly as she realized the flash of red may have held something for her. It made absolutely anything other than sense in that moment, but her legs willed her to move for the first time in ages. It was as if every part of her body had its own volition, and rather numbly she could feel her powers singing a mellow melody beneath her skin.

Taking a few steps out from the throne, flurries of iridescent swirls manifested from her, taking shapes and forms of many creatures; all of which she recognized. There came the collective howls of wolves and the roars of bears and the cries of hawks. She became surrounded in her creations, and in so doing got an inkling of an impetus. There was an impulse to stir, to take action. Conjuring itself into her left hand, a blade of pure ice felt at home in her grasp. For the first time in ages, she smiled as she threw open the doors of the throne room and led the assembly to her icy walls of Arendelle.


	4. Chapter 4

They had all risen like a wave of the ocean, swift and contiguous. They all stood before her now with bared weapons, but with a nod of her head they were put back away for the ensuing combat to come. Kristoff took a step over to her to exchange words. "Should we prepare now?" She nodded simply.

"Yes." They spent the rest of 30 minutes gathering up everything they could need as they would trek down the mountain carefully.

A few of them had offered themselves for the role of scouting out up ahead, which was gracefully taken to by pretty much all in attendance. They hadn't descended more than a hundred feet when they revealed the presence of a small coordinated watch stationed up ahead at a sort of barracks. Anna divided the warriors into three main groups; nothing too complicated—one right behind her and two more on the opposite sides. They made a slow advance behind her, but would make no action until asked to do so.

The redhead, outfitted in her golden armor, looked much as she had in those glorious years of her being Queen. Some of the men had been in that memorable battle against Berk, and saw the same powerful woman they had then. She brought her feet to a halt as she stood at what was the backside of a large stone structure. She craned her neck in long motions in either direction before stilling herself and taking a long breath. Her right hand gripped meaningfully at the hilt of her blade, and she could feel the force of her grasp transferring all around her body. It made her chest tighten and her legs tense as she poured every ounce of strength into her right hand.

All of those behind her could only look on at the sight. Many of them had only ever heard of the vorpal blade in her possession, but it certainly looked impressive enough on its own. Having seen it earlier, the intricacies in its design led many to wonder how such a weapon could've been formed at all. It had seen the heat and use of so many battles and yet it glimmered like the peak of the North Mountain. It seemed to mesmerize any and all who looked upon it.

Anna, bracing herself, went through the steps she had done so many times before. It was the way she had begun many skirmishes, many of which ending with this singular maneuver. She drew in a quick breath, allowing it to fall down into her core, shot the surge of strength necessary into her arm and then felt her legs ready to spring forth—and at that moment she released, the air within her exploding under immense pressure as she felt her upper half swivel in perfect synchronicity with her legs providing the force needed to fuel the strike. Her hand gripping with such monstrous strength, the instant the blade was free of its scabbard it had already begun to form its deadly prominence. As she swung into the second half of the arc, she knew that if her eyes had been open she could see the lethal cutting of concentrated air and a blast of energy with unmatched force.

The blade fired forth its slicing wave of crimson energy, infused partly with her life-force, and it slipped noiselessly through the structure before her. No one, not even herself, could discern whether the event had either been so deafening that silence befell them or that simply there was no air left for them to hear in. Had they not been poised for battle, they all would have looked on open-mouthed in utter admiration. It was such a beautiful display of shocking power, and in a moment the sound returned to them.

The great slab of stone had been split in a cross-section diagonally going from bottom left to top right. The cut had been so true that the two halves slid against the other, falling in a thundering rumble onto the ground. As the ground shook, it seemed almost humorous to see the many dumbfounded faces on the inside. Seeing all of them where they would usually have been occupying stations, all outlooking in the other direction, seemed bizarre as they all became aware of the cross-section. The Major was the first to step up.

"Queen Anna." He and the rest of his men advanced quickly down the steps to assemble and bow to her. She curved her brow in confusion.

"Explain yourselves." The Major fiddled about with his sides, saying "It was only our job to keep refugees from getting out." He said it so nervously as if to imply that the ones behind Anna were proof of their failure, but there again Anna was in juxtaposition to his orders herself, but he wouldn't dare incite her wrath.

He continued, "The regency has enacted none other than martial law. Which is ridiculous considering that our military was so inactive in the first place."

"What have the people had to say about this?" The golden-clad one asked, unsure of what to think. All of his men gulped.

"Before we were holed up here on watch with nothing but rations, we had seen many revolts, but none of them ended well." He allowed silence to pervade, but Anna wouldn't allow it.

"And how did they end?" He had to pause to collect himself. He wasn't sure if speaking anything at all would be a good idea, but he knew well enough that he didn't have much of a choice.

"By your sister's hand—Queen Elsa." In an instant there appeared a deep fissure in the snow, crimson energy marring the ground as all held their breath. Anna's breaths were shallow and hurried, and her eyes were shut tight. She wiped her brow. She wanted to say so many things; how wrong they were; how there's no way that could make sense. But in the end she only said what she knew to be true.

"My sister would never do that." Major Wilhelm found himself in zugzwang where telling the truth could mean all of their deaths or lying could mean the same either way.

"But she did, Your Majesty." Her next breath was sharp, and her eyes cut worse than the blade.

"Why do you call me _Queen_!? Isn't there one already?" She looked all around as if the answer was hiding in the shadows, waiting to be rent asunder by a decisive strike, but nowhere she looked could any be seen. Yet she wouldn't resign so easily. "I need more than that, Wilhelm," she said pointedly. She amended herself quickly. "_We_—need more than that." Anna had told every last one of them of Elsa's good virtue, that which they still wanted to believe after so many years of trusting the royal family. She wouldn't let her word be so easily sullied when she could do something about it. The Major hung his head, and one of his men stepped forward to offer what he could.

"Queen Elsa hasn't been herself."

"Friedrich!" Cried out one of the other men in protest.

"Well it's true. She hasn't seemed like the same powerful woman we had seen in years past. And then all of a sudden the regency takes over the reins in ruling and she reveals her ice powers in a display of utter strength that no one had ever seen before." He gulped, seeing her calculating expression. He continued with abandon. "They moved all proceedings out into the public eye, where it seemed that they were trying to brainwash everyone to forget who the rightful rulers were, or I guess you, Queen Anna."

"What do you mean," she asked. He had to look about for a moment to gather himself—he wasn't expecting to hear her voice directed at him, but he wouldn't allow himself to appear weak before her in any case.

"The matters of royal variety quickly became like sermons for the humor of the people. This was shortly after your…" Anna nodded.

"Continue." He re-found himself.

"It seemed as if it was their intent to make everyone pay attention to the regency and them alone. Our leader, Fhin, took it upon himself to inform us all of your defection, and made it seem like a sign of weakness."

"We know that's not true," Major Wilhelm said, but then he allowed the young man to continue on.

"From there it almost seemed like he allowed an open podium at all of the meetings, as if the country was becoming ruled by the people. But the truth is that it was all just a ruse to get everyone's trust. Where we believed we were getting more say in the country's proceedings, we were really just playing into their hands by believing it was all for us. We couldn't have been more wrong." He felt a hand at his shoulder, and allowed Mr. Wilhelm to reclaim his seniority.

"Indeed, we couldn't have been. But from there things really took a turn for the worse. No one could make heads nor tails of what they were trying to do, but it seemed that it was just laying the groundwork so martial law could be laid down. They had all grown to trust Fhin so it didn't grate on their nerves much at all it would seem." He shook his head.

"What does this have to do with my sister?" Her eyes were like rays. What the major would have to say next he quite feared, but he wouldn't shy away.

"Your sister was used as a tool to break up public squabbles many times. In fact, it was the only time we can recall seeing her these past months." Anna nearly hung her head.

"You mean that…"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Elsa has been lowered from that of a Queen to that of a weapon."

"I don't believe you," she said. She couldn't even bear to hear such words. He was unsure of where to speak next, or if he even should at all. His gaze drifted to the men a fair distance behind the woman, seeing their stoicism. They wanted nothing more than to return home; to see an end to the hell the country had been put through. And, truthfully, the Major wanted nothing more than to see such things come to fruition. His eyes stung, not from wetness, but from the possibility of not being able to see eye to eye with his rightful Queen. It was the only thing he wanted. He opened his mouth to speak. "Save it, Wilhelm. I don't care what anyone says." She placed a hand on her blade. "I'm going to figure out for myself.. the truth."

They all nodded, and she gestured for the rest of her men to join them in a slow funneling of bodies. "Then we're going together?" she asked. It almost seemed like an afterthought, especially considering how quickly she had recovered from her previous low spirits. The man before her nodded, and so did the others in his company. She then realized the fact that she hadn't seen what new arrangements had been put in place since the instatement of martial law as the primary force in the land.

She assumed that there were probably many more platoons like this one, but how many of them harbored friendly individuals, or more likely indifferent ones, she could have no idea. The Major and Kristoff gathered in close circle about her, but she gestured them away. This wasn't a matter to be discussed in private. They were all there with a common interest; liberation. They had come together as a front, and were going to stay that way, damn to all things in the way.

"So, Major," she began, "what exactly are we to expect once we get to the walls I've heard so much about?" He nearly had the wind fly from him. If anyone else had asked he would've laughed it off rather impolitely, but in the company of someone so capable and deserving of seriousness, he would never dream of doing such a thing.

"_If _we make it past the platoons stationed down the mountains, then the gates shouldn't be much of a problem." Anna felt insulted, just a bit.

"And why is that?" She was pacing in small circles, looking from man to man and everywhere in-between.

"Because of what you demonstrated earlier." It took her a moment to understand exactly what he was referencing, but a small gesture of a sidelong hand got the message across well enough.

"The blade." he said. It was succinct and just right—of course she could just blast through the walls much like she had done with these. She nodded in assent. But she still needed to know what was in store for them on the way down the mountain. She figured that now their company had the addition of about 50 more trained men, and her battle expertise that not much short of magic could put a significant hampering on their advance, but she was nevertheless not much in the know.

"So what are we to expect on the way down the mountain."

"Stations much like this one. There really are quite a few, Your Majesty. I couldn't quite tell you where all of them are."

"But we could," said one of the men who had volunteered for scouting earlier. This time, however much Anna trusted them, she should probably go with. She turned to face the group of 12 who had gone.

"I will accompany you." The statement earned a tone of warning, especially from the blonde man close to her.

"Anna.. are you sure?"

"Couldn't be more," she replied. She was strong; she was brave; she was _Anna. _He couldn't give her anything other than an affirmative, and that much he did. She gave a series of about-faces to look upon everyone in attendance. "If we do not return after an hour and a half, begin the advance at your own volition, led by the Major. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," rang all the voices collectively. This was Anna they were talking about. Surely there was nothing to worry about. As she began to lead their initial descent down the mountain, they all looked on in admiration.

* * *

><p>"Lord Fhin."<p>

"Yes?" He didn't much care for any disturbances at the moment. He was in council with his visionary, who was, at the moment, showing a vision of the valkyrie making an advance down the mountain whilst carefully avoiding any and all of the stationed troops.

"My lord?" Hearing the tone of his voice made him whine.

"What is it?" He wanted very much to be rid of the young man.

"Are we not going to evacuate the people? This has been expected, has it not?" Fhin turned around with such force it would've caused most men to fear for his wellness.

"We will do no such thing."

"But sir!"

"No. We need the people to see her for what she is." The younger man shook his head in disbelief and left without another word. Finn shifted his attention back to the crystal ball once again as the visionary sat wordlessly, just roaming his hands across the ball as his eyes were wrenched shut. "What do _you _see," asked Finn. He didn't hear a reply, so he repeated his question.

"This is Anna's final trek towards the walls on her own, Lord Fhin." He much liked the sound of that. He already knew that the visionary couldn't impart more than ambiguous swatches of the future, but that was something he could bear with without much conflict.

"Excellent." He took a few more moments to eye the ball and what it showed to him, then he collected himself and exited the secluded chamber. He rounded the hall and walked past the throne room, noticing how cold it was as always. He had to fight the smirk creeping up onto his face, since he didn't want to appear as anything other than consummately in control to the people he was about to assimilate. This had been a plan in the making for many whiles now, and it was about time to put into motion. He ventured a step into the throne room, which he noticed was empty. Elsa wouldn't have said even one word had she been there, anyway.

He took a few steps conspiratorially over to the throne, noting the tile that was ever-so-slightly raised. He was the sole individual who knew exactly what could be found down in that secret area, made by Queen Anna herself. It was the one thing he knew for sure could bend her into succumbing to his demands of ridding the monarchy. Of course the people would agree with him; he only wanted to get rid of the ruling body in place and replace it with a representative system.

"It's the way of the future," he would say. "It's so much better than this _subversion _we've suffered all these years," he would say. He could already hear the cries of approval and overwhelming praise of the crowds. _So simple, _he thought. They really had no idea how easy the whole plot could be put together. _Granted, the whole thing would be impossible if it weren't for that down there._ His smirk turned venomous as he took up the hatch of the door, slipping in to retrieve the artifact that would surely leave no doubt in their minds.


	5. Chapter 5

There were so many things that the redhead could ask; so many things that she probably _should_ ask, but they all seemed to slip pass her mind in a blur. The rest of the soldiers had deserted, it appeared. There was literally nothing to bar their path down the mountain. "Surely there's more than this," she muttered into the piney air.

"Seconded, Queen Anna." She hummed indifferently at the comment. Not much could really distract her more than she was already. She imagined rectifying all the wrongs of the past with her sister once and for all, holding her in her arms and telling her the _truth. _The weight of it all made her knees nearly buckle under the weight even as she walked with little inhibition at all. She had no way of being sure what Elsa would say, but she made sure not to let it bother her beyond disrepair. There were certainly bastards who would like to get in the way, like this _Fhin _who seemingly wanted nothing more than to make her existence a painful exile.

She wouldn't have it. Her gaze went sidelong to the pines going by her side, and saw the men trailing behind her in her peripheral. They had probably been walking for 20 minutes, and seeing a sheer lack of a threat, there seemed to be no harm in going the rest of the way to make absolute certain of what was in store for them. For reasons she couldn't quite pin down even with thoughts, she was pondering the ambiguity of it all. What all had caused the changes in Elsa that they all spoke about in such ominous light? It confused her. What could change Elsa?

She thought and thought about it, but couldn't see anything other than the beautiful sister she had known her whole life. Well, barring a few years here and there, but she had never not been the center of her existence. She felt her feet picking themselves up as she felt herself glide on the snow. She imagined Elsa manipulating the ice to jostle her playfully, throwing her into the air and she would giggle in delight. She looked back on it; all those times Elsa had seemed so distressed about her powers. It seemed ridiculous in every way to know that she had ever felt that way, and even more so that her parents had preferred her over her incredible sister who could do anything. She wouldn't allow herself to go virulent, but she could certainly see the potential for harboring less-than-daughterly esteem for her parents for such actions.

_Who could banish Elsa?_ It caused her confusion to get a fever, a feverish fever. It seemed incomprehensible.

"_They just wanted what was best for the people, Anna. They were scared and didn't know what I was capable of.. and neither did I," she said. _

"_But that's not a reason to send you away." It made absolutely nothing in the way of sense to her, that much she was certain of. Absolutely certain of. _

"_That doesn't change that they had no way of understanding. They were born unto me, after all. It was my job to figure them out. I thought about it a lot while I was gone. And I think that was probably the truth." She paused. "Even if we'll never hear it from them." _

_Anna's eyes prickled. She was Queen, but these were things that she couldn't bear. She didn't care how childish it was; crying allowed her to admit to having problems. "But you were gone, Elsa. How was I supposed to know?" The reply came painfully quick. _

"_You weren't." _

"_Elsa!?" It felt as if she had been stuck with a red-hot poker and gouged. _

"_Well, that's probably what they would've said." Anna shook her head. _

"_I don't care what they would say. What do you think Elsa?" The elder ran her nails along the arm of her chair, placing her coffee down. _

"_I'm not sure what to think, Anna." _

"_Then don't." _

"_Pardon?" Anna did much the same gesture as she had, placing her coffee down. "You were frank with your response, were you not? So I figured I could do the same." She placed her hands in her lap. "Just don't think about it—say it." She offered in clarification. Elsa's eyes went wide, and for a second Anna thought that even though she was Queen there was no way in hell that Elsa was going to dignify such absurd advice with an actual response. _

"_Because I love you," she said, and instantly her face began to redden. She could hardly believe she had said it. Anna, on the other hand, probably would've dropped anything she'd been holding, so it was a good thing she wasn't. It didn't really seem like the sort of thing that needed a response, so she had continued on to a training adventure when leading a group of the kingdom's 12 best soldiers. _

She had known exactly why she refused to speak on it at that time, but now it seemed even more so. There was something not so pure about her feelings toward the other, and even though Elsa's response had been humorous in and of itself, Anna firmly believed it was impossible that Elsa had truly meant anything more than their sisterly bond in saying _I love you._ It would be absurd, surely. Anna could imagine herself saying it with a laughable drawl that would probably earn her a punch to the face from herself, if no one else.

In circles and circles went her thoughts. It never seemed to get old for her; the pondering of what could be between her and her sister. Her 5 years following Elsa's departure had allowed for much self-exploration on her part. But to say self-exploration alone would be inaccurate. Elsa had been a part of it, too, and there was no way she could deny it. Nights and nights and countless occurrences of dreams were blessed by her appearance, and it delighted Anna at first.

But as they progressed into the darker side of the spectrum she quickly realized how much she was destroying herself in wishing for something that simply _could not be. _

"Could never be," she said.

"What was that?" asked one of the men just behind her. She didn't hear him.

"Your Majesty?"

"Hm?"

"Did you say something?" Her eyes widened, but her form didn't shift in the slightest that they could see.

"No, it was nothing." she said. In her mind, she berated herself for nearly being so hopelessly transparent. Of course she wouldn't have elaborated had they asked. She simply would've commented on the walk or something like that. Just then they heard a rustling in the bushes. It seemed to echo endlessly in the pines and the brisk air. "Come about," she said in a commanding tone. The sight she beheld would've normally sent her for a trip, but after seeing some interesting things the past months it didn't seem so unbelievable. Though there was something else about it that held her affixed.

Her men mirrored her position of curiosity, staring open-mouthed at the oblong form advancing upon them in waddling steps. It had the dopiest smile she had ever seen on anything. She frankly couldn't make sense of it at all.

"What am I looking at?" she asked, surprised at the sound of her voice. She was annoyed at colors of her younger self rearing their head; her more awkward self that'd barely known how to dance without tripping over something. What came next was astonishing.

"Hi I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs." They all scrambled around the auburn-haired one, pleading for mercy for being so cowardly. They all had swords, yet none could think to draw them. That is, had they even had the capability to perceive the presence as a threat.

"I-it talked." said one of the men.

"Yes it did," said another of the men. Noticing the many pairs of hands at her shins, she shook them off.

"Stand up, you lot. Don't be ridiculous. Of course it didn't talk," she said placating. The sound of a voice taking in breath made her ears perk up, and the men didn't leave the ground.

"Uh, I'm actually pretty sure I did," the _thing s_aid. Anna shrieked as her body acted entirely of its own device. She felt a tiny bit of resistance as she threw herself at the figure, swiping its head clean off. She even opened her eyes to verify that she had, indeed, done away with it.

"See, problem solved," she said, cracking a smile.

"Actually," said the same voice as the headless body of snow waddled over to a thicket, "I'm still here. Hehe." He giggled and hugged himself as his head was placed back in place, right where it was supposed to be. The golden-clad one made another lunge which prompted him to raise his arms in defense. "Whoa-whoa, there, what's with all the hostility?" She stopped just before he would've been beheaded a second time. Anna thought for a second as she really got a good look at him. He looked harmless, comical even. She was unaware of him returning the gesture to her. "You sure we haven't met before?" he asked, seemingly breaking her out of her trance. She laughed to herself.

"A walking, talking snowman—yea high? I don't think so." She couldn't regard the figure in any way other than incredulously. "I mean, how could I have? I'm pretty sure I'd remember." The figure came up to her, fiddling about with her limbs in a way that her made her go statue still. She had no idea what to make of what was going on. "Uh?" she asked, or as close to it as she could come. "What are you doing?"

"Yeah," added one of the men from 15 feet away.

"Don't try anything silly you _thing._" He let go of her, and looked at them, brow slowly creasing to show a look of disbelief.

"The name's _Olaf._" He held his arms out to the side, wiggling his hands at the ends to elicit some sort of response from them, but receiving none. "You guys really are no fun." At that moment, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his frame. "Except for you—you're nice." And the very next moment he was thrown down into the snow. "Hey!" he said. But the blade bore before him silenced him.

"Why have you come, Olaf? Are you not here to insure that we never make it to Arendelle, or are you a deception to fool us into believing that you're harmless." He shook his head rapidly.

"No, not at all."

"Then _what_?" He sighed. He hadn't really expected the exact opposite of a warm welcome, but he supposed that things could be worse.

"She wanted to find you." He noticed how the blade faltered somewhat in her grasp, nearly clattering on the frosty ground, but the one on the other end reclaimed her wits. He could tell that that had almost gotten through her thick exterior. _Hey, I tried, _he thought with an imperceptible shrug.

"Who is 'she'?" she asked, retracting the blade some distance, but certainly not fully. "Answer me, Olaf." He shuffled meagerly against the snow, bringing his form just an inch or two higher than his prone self had been.

"Take a guess," he said. He was expecting her denseness to get the best of her and cloud her judgment, but the blade being sheathed surprised him.

"I know," she said. He nodded, coming to the conclusion that she did, in fact, know.

"Who, Your Majesty?" asked the 12 others with them.

"Elsa." she said thoughtlessly. She wasn't looking at anything in particular. "Olaf, you need to take me to her." Nothing else was going through her mind in that moment. She'd break through the walls of Arendelle a million times if it meant she could see Elsa. Why she was assuming that Olaf would know where she was seemed beyond her. But for whatever reason it seemed like more fact than fiction. Something about him embodied the childlike wonder that she and Elsa had shared so long ago.

Somehow, somewhere, she knew it was unmistakable. Elsa had something to do with the goofy snowman before her. She knew it. The shuffling of the others to join them didn't go unnoticed.

"Fire!" It had been a call through the thick of the air; the tension being sliced by the peal of cannon fire.

"Your Majesty!" She felt herself being thrown to the side as a large golem of snow took the blast that was surely meant for her. The body at her side was none other than Kristoff, and soon followed by Wilhelm; the one who had called out to her. The 12 from before were already gone to help with the effort it would seem. The haze of battle had already blurred her vision and dulled her senses. She could barely think to grab her weapon.

"Anna, you've got to stand up," Kristoff said as calmly as he could. He was already carrying her to the nearest barracks for a brief rest.

"Kristoff, you better watch your back," Wilhelm said as he met swords with an Arendellian soldier. All around them were ice creatures engaging against the Arendelle Army on the side of her company, it seemed. That was all she could think amidst the whirling thoughts in her head; most of them having to do with her sister.

"You'll be alright," he said as he set her down. And that got her back to her senses. The clashes of metal and booms of cannons were fresh in her ears, ringing again and again with no signs of stopping.

"That I will be, Kristoff," she said hastily as she straightened herself. _Where's Olaf, _she thought very briefly—the moment she thought it, she saw him at her side much Kristoff had been. And then the sounds of battle once again alerted her to the reality. "What's going on?" she asked. "Where did those creatures come from?"

"Duck!" He exclaimed as they had to take cover from a cannon blast certainly meant for them. It took a significant portion out from the barracks, but they still lived. Only then just remembering that she had said something, he cleared his head and allowed the thoughts to come to him as he collected them on the fly. "They just kinda appeared. Sort of like this guy I would imagine." Anna groaned.

"Yeah, I guess that sounds about right." Calls of _Fire! _and _Advance! _and _Pull Back!_ were already starting to make her ears feel like they were being grated against. She shook her head, now knowing all that she needed to.

"You sure you're okay?" Kristoff asked as she motioned to leave.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" He sauntered over the last couple of feet, laying an arm on what used to be a central support structure. "Just a feisty-pants is all," he said chuckling. "Oof!" He had the wind knocked from him with a well-placed punch.

"Noted," Anna said as she and Olaf left him to coordinate things up there with the Major. Olaf was laughing with abandon, even though the idea of hurting someone didn't completely make sense to him, it certainly humored him to see their way of making amends. They were at the base of the mountain in another couple of minutes, the wind flying by them as they ran in like speed. Anna was dumbstruck at the fact Olaf was able to keep up with her, but it mattered little when met with the assemblage at the gates, now hardened to near-impenetrability with what was certainly Elsa's ice. The mid-morning light radiated against it, revealing the signature magentas and golds that could only come from her sister's essence. The sight was certainly impressive, but a call from above caught her attention.

* * *

><p>She was wandering aimlessly. It was as if the country she once knew as well as her sister seemed completely alien to her in every regard. And she really couldn't help herself as she stumbled about the courtyard. The silence all around her was completely unnerving. It shook her much like she was shaking her head again and again. For reasons she couldn't fathom, Agdar had reclaimed the spot in front of her mind that he had so many years ago. She could see nothing other than him impeding her advancement incessantly, saying again and again on an endless repeat, "Conceal, don't feel."<p>

With every single repetition, she thought her head would rip itself off from the utter irritation. There was no word in existence to express what sort of anguish she felt at the moment. Every part of her was being encapsulated and bottled up into the thinnest bottle-necking imaginable, and then shut off with a cap on top of it all.

That flash of red was trying to ease its way out, it was fighting its hardest as every part of her being was fighting for freedom. She was stumbling about with eyes closed—she didn't even bat an eye when her head connected with one of the statues in the yard. It hardly even got her attention past a point of mild annoyance, for nothing could quite dissuade her intense thought process. Her absolute damnedest was put forth to figure out what had put her in this compromising position where hardly even a refusal could formulate in her mind. Every query came bouncing back uselessly. _It's you, it's you; nothing but you._

"No, it's not true," she said. _But it is. _"No!" It didn't stop there. The voice kept ringing out in voracious rapidity, whittling her down like a chopping block. No matter how many times she cried out against it, it didn't matter. She could already see the light start to fade against the face of the world. Pulled out and shoved back, whispers of the past in burbles. Nothing came coherently. Before long the only question she was asking was "_Why_?" She didn't deserve this. She hadn't even asked for any of this, yet there it was being shoved in her face like bad meat.

Everything seemed pungent, like she was going to lose her breakfast; but somehow she doubted that she could even will herself to do that much. Her mind's eye could vaguely notice the black forms permeating through and making everything appear murky. And then everything just went blank.

The frost on the ground called to her, pushing her up to her feet. Only one voice remained. _Who am I?_ Her corporeal self just shook its head. She would say that it didn't matter, but she didn't deign to speak. Rising up and stepping, the ice rippling about her feet, she could only think of what the voice in her head was telling her to do. _Kill the red. Kill all the red._

"Yes," she said, and began an incredibly slow walk to the edge of the border. She had never noticed the man behind her observing her every action. He sent a message via the fastest hawk available to him, indicating precisely what he meant to say.

* * *

><p>He stood at the edge of the barrier, expecting full-well the sort of reception he'd been promised by prophesying time and time again. And now today was the day.<p>

"For you, my lord." He turned his head to see the scroll presented to him.

"Yes.. thank you." He unrolled it to gaze upon its script.

_Fhin, it was exactly as I expected. Elsa was perfectly susceptible to the potion I concocted. She appears to only have volition insofar as it has to do with destroying anything red._

He smirked as he realized just what that meant. Not only did he have the people on his side, but he had the help of his enemy's freak sister as well. The gods seemed to be smiling down upon him on this day of days!

His magical aficionado, well more like a wizard, Rory had long-since worked on a spell to entrap the blonde sorceress. It had been a work in progress ever since he first cast it upon her, and with help from a charms expert in his employ they were able to pick apart pieces of Elsa's mind to see just what made her tick. They eventually found out that what she referred to as "the flash of red" was her mind's subconscious referencing of Anna. But no spell alone could break someone's mind down to the point they needed it to be at.

She may have been degraded to a mere shell of who she once was, wholly unaware of the spell's existence upon her, but they needed more to truly make her subservience a reality. Where she had once been recalcitrant and reclusive, she had become simply reclusive, prompting many of the people to wonder where she had gone or whether she was even still alive. Fhin had always assured them that their worries were for naught.

"Elsa is alive and well, she simply has handed over less important duties to the ruling body you see before you," he had said to the assembly that day. There had to have been 12,000 people listening to his voice that day. It had felt so empowering to know that he could just say whatever he wanted and they would just eat it up without so much as asking. And he felt much the same assurance as he had on that day; a sense that everything would go according to plan—a plan that only he knew in its entirety, but that wasn't important. He knew, that much he knew.

_Anna will assume that I've been in it simply to overthrow everything. And all of these lovely people will tell her of my charitable deeds and selflessness in serving the kingdom. _He hid his scoff behind his hand. It was simply too perfect! _How could I forget the last nail in the coffin? The people will cement the picture when they tell her all about how Elsa has let herself go and become nothing like the Queen people were expecting of her. _That was it. No one would believe Anna when faced with the weight of the situation. To anyone, no matter how unassuming or assuming, he appeared as naught more than someone who wanted to bring order to a nation without proper leadership. And, knowing those under him, it seemed perfectly reasonable to assume that would be the truth.

He could still remember the day that Agdar had given him a senior position on the regency. They had, after all, been rather close in The Battle of Three Armies.

"Fhin, I couldn't trust anyone else to lead this country in the absence of a true royal." he said, placing down his wine. The man in question hadn't even picked up his goblet no matter how many times Agdar had asked him to indulge. He wasn't much in the mood.

"_I'm flattered Agdar, really I am, but what makes you think I'd be so cut out for it?" He had felt that perhaps it was the alcohol talking. They may have been great friends, but in all honesty there wasn't much that could warrant handing over even the possibility of working around a monarchy. It seemed unthinkable. But he was certainly intrigued. _

"_I just know, Fhin. Trust is hard to come by these days." He took another sip. _

"_You are sure?" This time Agdar just laughed. _

"_Of course I'm sure," he said, and left it at that. Fhin had much admired the man, his strength, his ability to rule. But he had failed to produce a son._

And that was the last time he ever saw him. Next word was that he and his wife had been lost to sea, never to be seen again. He was very saddened that day, but that was also the day he realized what it could mean. It was taken on a leap of faith, perhaps one could say.

Supposition was a skill of his, and being of great intelligence, he thought that perhaps doing away with the monarchy wasn't too unrealistic of a goal. Where he got the idea he never knew, but once it was planted, it never went away. It had since grown to a piercing sense of clarity; as if he could see everything clearly. There was no longer anything to block his vision. And now that Elsa had been put out of the way, there was only one thing left at all. And he still very much remembered the one thing that could put her in her place.

_As much as I know you'd like for me to forget about that very particular piece of information; the very thing that forced you to leave, Anna, know that it isn't just fresh in my mind—it's all I'm thinking about in this moment. _He shook his head. _Long live the Queen, indeed, _he thought sardonically. He couldn't believe that such a thing could happen, but strange things could happen after all.

The Queen was currently an icy witch with the ability to call about massive storms, much like the wintry wisps going to and fro all over the land at the current. And the former Queen was much the opposite; a fiery bundle of incalculable energy. Surely with as collected and clear-headed as she was, he never could've been able to pull off his plan if it had been under her rule instead.

Anna had had so much more experience with royal processions to keep her grounded, and not to mention that her prowess with the blade was nothing to shake a feather at. No, not much of anything seemed more frightening than having to deal with that valkyrie. But the tides had turned in his favor, and sure as he could hear the ocean of people murmuring behind him, waiting to see why they had been assembled in the first place, he would get what he so desired on this day of days.

He could already feel the air thickening with gusts of winter as she drew closer. There was no way of telling where she'd come from when the time came, but that mattered not. Surely she'd find some way of being innocuous and out of attention. He could hear everyone growing restless, and knowing that they were relying on him to relieve those feelings of tenseness and uncertainty made him feel the exact opposite. It was as if he could feel the power flowing into him, yet no one would ever be able to tell he felt it so.

He imagined a crown being placed upon his head and hearing the admiration of all. But he knew that would probably never happen, not if this plan actually went through. But still, just the _thought _of it was intoxicating. He smiled to himself and himself alone when he heard the familiar clinking of golden armor, accompanied by an unexpected presence, but that much meant nothing to him.

Uncrossing his arms, he looked down to her. She was simply looking around to see the monumental walls before her, but he, on the other hand, felt much more. Today was the day he'd do away with the senseless birthrights and barbaric authority. He'd liberate the people, and in doing so give himself the power he'd been vying for at such length. It was at arm's reach; it was within his grasp. She finally met his gaze, causing him to chuckle.

"So she finally came." he said.


	6. Chapter 6

"So it comes to this." Anna said, calling up to the man up on top. She could see key members of the regency outlying him; like Rory who had once tutored her on types of magic and mythological things, as well as a few others she couldn't readily recognize.

"That it does," replied Fhin. "My-my, aren't we a little hasty?" He gestured down to her, making her aware of her bewildered expression. She had already grabbed onto her sword as if she were going to simply go ahead and blast through the walls sans talking at all. She released her hand with a huff, cursing herself for being so blatantly hasty. It wasn't like he wasn't aware of her capabilities, but none the same it would be ridiculous to barge in. However much she may have wanted to.

"What _is _that?" Fhin asked. Anna looked around for a moment, then realizing that he was referring to the one who had joined her; the only one to make it down the mountain with her. The bundle of energy decided to answer for himself.

"Hi I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs." Fhin's expression stayed stoic.

"Surprised?" Anna asked. "No," he said. "I've seen Elsa make creatures before, just never one that could talk." Anna decided not to dignify that with a response. Everyone could feel the tenseness in the air. The ones up top felt as if they were looking down at a weapon of war; something to be feared in full. And their fears were well-warranted. She had never been against them until now, and really had no idea what to expect. They had all believed that Fhin's plot was simple enough, but that was just it—it was too simple. _Anna is a force of nature, _they all thought.

Surely, unless Fhin really had worked the whole thing out, there was no way it could be so easy. They could be headless within seconds. Certainly that meant the people would revolt, leaving Anna with a bunch of people who thought of her as a monster. That would be advantageous for them, sure, but there must've been something Fhin hadn't bothered to tell any of them. And judging by the ever-present smugness in his air, it would seem that that was probably the case.

"So, how've things been, Anna?" He asked, hoping to clear the air. She snorted once then twice, then an innumerable amount of times. He was asking her to stop amidst her chortling, but she could barely hear him over the ridiculousness of it. _He's asking me how things have been, huh?_ Something about it; just how uncalled for it was couldn't stop banging around in her head, making the laughter wrench itself out vigorously and causing her to hold her sides. She hadn't laughed so much in a good while. When at last she seemed to have subsided, "Well, Anna?" he asked, but then paused to amend himself. "Your Highness."

Those to the side of him bowed, while he remained. _Keep it together, Fhin. You were almost too careless. _And so he kept his composure, noticing how Anna had regained her regal air. She looked just as high as him in stature, even from 40 feet below. It nearly made him go verbal about it, but he held his tongue. Anna still hadn't given him a reply, and just as he was about to say something,

"Um.. we're just trying to get to Elsa." Olaf said. Anna shushed him, and whispered to him to be quiet. Laughter from up above could be heard. "What's so funny?" she asked. Fhin sent her a look of incredulity. "You can't really mean to tell me that _that _was the reason you came back, can you?"

"No," she said tersely, "at least not all."

"All?" he asked, raising his brow. Anna looked away from him to look out to the fjord.

"You can't really mean to tell me it's a mystery, Fhin." He raised his nose at her. _Of course that nosey bastard would know. How dare he even pretend. _She would curse him all the way up and down if she didn't care about preserving her image, and that was really quite of importance to her.

"That it isn't." he said.

"Why don't you tell us yourself, Your Highness?" It was one of the other men to his side. He couldn't quite be recognized so immediately by Anna, but then it clicked. It was Threyn—he had been her chief financial advisor. She was almost taken aback at her forgetting about him, but really didn't seem to care anymore. She had heard him clearly, so she would answer him clearly. The breath she drew in made Olaf back away out of instinct. It looked like she was about to unleash a tempest upon the world.

"To take back Arendelle," she said powerfully. The words rung all around them, hanging in the air and coloring everything in like shades of her strength. Just then she noticed Fhin raise an arm rather conspiratorially. It made her brow raise in query, and she at once brought her arms back to her sides defensively. Fhin, not being a military commander of any sort had no idea how similar his gesture appeared to the order one would give to archers. She was poised to deliver a devastating blow when she heard that familiar creaking that sent tremors through the ground and made her hairs stand on end.

The gates were being opened slowly but surely by the man pulling the lever. Apparently the fortifications Elsa made were simply to reinforce what had already been in place. Anna didn't grip her sword so fiercely as she allowed herself to relax.

"That wasn't funny," she said, muttering under her breath.

"What wasn't?" Olaf asked, reaching at her grieves, worried that she might have left him in some sort of stupor. Anna laid a hand on his head, patting him reassuringly as he looked up to her warily.

"Him doubting how badly I want my kingdom back," she said with a smile. The gates were still creaking open, and they noticed that the doors themselves were so thick that it almost seemed like a physical impossibility for them to even open by the mechanism that had been in place for so many years. Her eyes went wide and her arms almost seemed to go limp as she saw through the crack a sea of bodies standing about.

It almost seemed humbling; so much so that she had entirely forgotten how incredible it really was—how ruling bodies could assemble people together for the purpose of imparting information at a moment's notice. It made her feel all those times she had addressed her people to assure them of prosper or to hear grievances or anything, really. These were the people she had so loved; the same people she had led armies for; and as the doors had now fully opened, she noticed them looking no other than one.

Her. She could almost feel weakness pooling in her legs, as if she could fall over. In fact, she didn't even hold herself up of conscious volition. Toned legs and masses upon masses of muscle held her in place.

"Welcome Princess Anna of Arendelle!" Fhin said, throwing his arms into the air, and the crowds erupted into cheers as a group of men she hadn't even noticed picked her and Olaf up from behind and placed them in the middle of the square. She gave wordless thanks and many gestures to the people all around her. The moment itself seemed so powerful for reasons she couldn't pin down, everyone looking at her with such admiration. They gave her and Olaf space as they cleared the way. The royals made their way down the steps to greet their guest formally.

But then, as she was allowing herself to get carried away by whatever sort of bizarre dopamine-induced feelings of elation she was amid in the moment, she realized a critical detail. _They weren't surprised to see Olaf._ Then, the second part: _Even Fhin was surprised. _

That was more than enough to make her tense. She could hear for a brief moment how her armor made sounds of shifting, but didn't make it too obvious. Knowing something of that magnitude couldn't have meant things were all right. She looked around at all the people, though, and nothing really seemed too out of sorts. They were all smiling; they all looked so happy to see her. The Sun was shining its glory down on the Earth, lighting everything in splendor. It really was a beautiful day.

The glimmering of something over by Fhin really caught her attention. A crown of wonders was upon his head, and she felt herself overcome by an urge to move herself.

"Marco!" she cried as she threw her arms around the royal bishop. She hadn't seen him since her coronation—okay, so maybe it wasn't that long ago. But it felt amazing to see the man once again and alive and well.

"Greetings to you too, your Highness," he wheezed out from under the force of her embrace.

"Oh, sorry about that," she said sheepishly, giving him some room.

"Don't think of it." he said. She felt her cheeks warm at it all, at everything that had happened. She could feel her guard being lowered for reasons she couldn't quite fathom. It seemed that her once piercing eye was blending into the crowd all on its own. But then she regained herself when she saw the bishop step to the side for Fhin. She had been wondering what on Earth he had done with the place ever since she had been made to go by _him _of all people.

But in this moment, it only made sense to try and figure things out. Olaf was flush up against her, and she found herself soothing him once again by way of patting his head. He wasn't shaking, but perhaps even if he was she wouldn't feel it through her armor. She looked about everything to feel the warmth of the Sun that was being imparted on the land.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle," he said in his most booming voice that he could muster, silencing everyone in the square. Anna's gaze centered in on him. He didn't shift at all despite being under the eyes of 12 thousand strong. He quite welcomed it. "Arendelle welcomes you back. We were all so distressed to find that you had left."

"Aye," the crowd said in a droning tone. The word washed over Anna like a wave in a fierce storm, rocking her sense of reason like no other.

"The bishop, if you hadn't noticed, is here to re-christen you as Queen Anna of Arendelle!" The crowd roared at the response, and the bishop revealed the rites of ascension from under a silken cloth as he was already fast advancing to her. "Long live the Queen!" The crowd was chanting in a low rumble. Anna had no idea what to think, but she was most certainly alert to everything around her. Thoughts were clashing in bouts of swords and cannons and fire and ice. Somewhere the urge stirred within her to lash out. The irrationality of everything going on around her made her start, and Olaf backed away to a safe distance.

"What did you just say?" she asked, at first quiet enough for only the royals and the bishop to hear. "What did you just say!?" she repeated, this time booming throughout the whole square. Everyone's speaking died down to a hush as they were more than aware of her feverish appearance. She was breathing in gasps and her face was flushed red, barely keeping a top on herself. "What about your Queen Elsa!? What about my sister?" She asked, turning to the crowd. Her eyes looked about imploringly to all that she could see.

It seemed unthinkable that all the faces looked at her simply bewildered. She wanted to tell them all that she could, but knowing that they weren't even enough in their minds to give her a response was unnerving. "What about the Queen?" she asked again. They remained silent, some of them looking between each other.

"Anna," the bishop said, "Elsa has not been herself," was all he could say. She swatted his arm away, as if he had burned her. She had heard it before, but now it was just too much.

"What are you talking about?" she asked breathily. She could already feel a stinging at her eyes. She was being gifted with silence as if the light of the world was opposite to what everything actually felt like. It seemed like she was looking through a veil, like she wasn't even talking to anyone. "Tell me," she said as she gripped him with one hand, lifting him up off the ground by the collar. "I mean it." she said. Her eyes were ablaze.

"_He already told you._" Her eyes lost some of their flames as she looked about to determine who had said it. _Oh God, it's him, _she thought. She let her grip on the bishop slacken, and he fell down to the ground and quickly had his arms around himself defensively. She didn't back down in the least. She figured that perhaps this had something to do with what Kristoff had told her, but she never imagined that it would be to the extent where no one would be telling her anything.

Here she was before a crowd of, well, a _lot_, and no one would talk. She was beginning to see red.

"Anna." Fhin began, making sure to maintain his air of assurance. "Elsa hasn't left the castle in months," he said.

"Yeah, not much of a queen at all!" Said one of the men in the crowd, and her head whirled around to hear where it had come from.

"I agree!"

"Me too!" And in seconds the entire crowd was a bustle over what sounded like displeasure at the Queen's despondence, but it was having significant trouble filtering through the redhead's ears. She felt like she was underwater and the currents were lashing at her again and again mercilessly. Nothing was getting through to her. Her head was going to and fro amidst the entire crowd in utter disbelief. Nothing was making sense to her at all.

"ENOUGH!" She screamed, hoping for an end to it all. And once again everyone stilled. She allowed her eyes to wander all around to all in her sight. She stilled for the millionth time that day, allowing herself to regain composure. "Well, now that you're willing to talk, can anyone tell me what's going on?" The crowd was murmuring amidst themselves as words couldn't be heard distinctly. The muddling of it all was more than obvious as so many of them melded together; absolute cacophony.

"Well?" she asked. They all stilled their babbling. A heavily bearded man spoke up, clearing his throat.

"Well, you see Your Highness," he said with somewhat of a bow to her, "none of us have really seen her the whole year." Anna shook her head.

"That's not good enough. Whatever do you mean—?" She noticed how the man gave her a look of inquiry, so she gestured with her arm, and when even that didn't get the point across.

"Your name?" she asked. He gave a swift "ahem" and answered, "Thomas." She nodded her head just barely to him. "Well, Thomas, tell me what you mean. I refuse to believe that no one has seen her."

"Well, with all due respect, ma'am, that's not the problem," spoke another man.

"Then?" she asked. "Then what?" A voice from a few rows back offered up an explanation.

"She's just holed herself up in the castle." It was a young boy from the looks of it. The people immediately around him cleared the way for him to be seen and heard.

"It's not like we can't go see her. She just hasn't really interacted with anyone."

"Yes, Your Highness, she truly hasn't had much of a public image her entire time as Queen." And just like that the crowd was a bustle once again, spouting out random utterances of concurrence and agreement amidst each other. It all grated on her ears, to the point where she was nearly back in her hole of disbelief. She spoke under her breath, "I can't believe this." Not that he could see it, but she was looking back a straight path to Fhin. She knew for sure that he had something to do with all of this. _It has to be him. _That was all she could think, and really all that she knew for sure.

"Could you take me to see her?" she asked to the crowd. There were some gasps to be heard amidst them all.

"But Your Highness." The bishop said into her ear. "Your coronation." She shoved him back.

"I don't want to hear anything about it—not right now." She called out to the crowd once again. "Could you lead me to the castle to see my sister?" she asked with a very heightened air of regality. It had never been a request she'd imagined herself making, but it seemed appropriate considering the utter bizarreness of the whole situation thus far.

There were once again many noises amidst their ranks, but slowly they filed out towards the castle and Anna found herself amidst them walking towards the castle. A group of high-class individuals filtered in around her to ask her questions about where she had gone, most of which she answered rather ambiguously, but her mood had lightened rather a bit, despite her sense of urgency to see exactly what was awaiting her at the castle. Surely it wasn't anything too egregious, but she would have to see, in any case.

She really had no idea what to expect. But as she walked with the people all around her and just filtered into the crowd and blended in, she felt humbled even as people were badgering her with questions. There were even a few stray remarks about Elsa as they made their slow advance up to the castle, which all could see even from where they were that the gates were already open.

They could feel a draft coming from there even as they were still a significant distance away.

"We always preferred your rule, Queen Anna," some woman feet away remarked in her general direction. She had been slightly off guard when it reached her ears, but she came to understand that this was a very common understanding among the people. For reasons that no one could put clearly to her, though she'd probably figure out sooner or later, Elsa had been painted as an apathetic individual; and as Anna had known the girl her whole life to be studious and attentive, it seemed impossible to believe. None of it made sense.

"Hm-hm," was all she could say in reply to the woman. What they were all saying came with the unspoken implication that they were expecting her to become Queen again, and really it didn't bother her that much except for the complete and utter disregard of her sibling. Elsa was her last remaining family tie, and she wasn't about to let that be tarnished by some people who thought they were in the know. Well, they may have known more about Elsa's current situation, but everything Anna knew about her was screaming in juxtaposition to it all.

"What are you expecting to find, Your Highness, if I may be so bold?" Now that was more along the lines of her general expectations. The man to her side had been rather understanding; going out of his way to respect that she, herself, had opinions of her own and shouldn't be afraid of voicing them.

"I'm expecting for all of you to be wrong about my sister." But then she sighed. "We'll just have to see," she said. "That was why I wanted to do this, I guess. To lead everyone up to the castle so we could see her together. I mean, how many of you have actually seen her; just to be fair." The man looked down to his hands, and then met her gaze briefly.

"Touché." he said. The tipping of his hat in her general direction made her cheeks warm as she felt them. They walked a good distance more, and Anna then realized that the entire time her right leg had been significantly heavier than the other. Olaf was holding on for dear life as they made their advance. She patted him once again.

"Maybe this is a good time for you to ask people for warm hugs," she said with a laugh for punctuation. He then released his grasp on her as he briefly thought about what she had said. Before long he was filtered into some other part of the crowd—probably with some children—doing whatever walking and talking snowmen like to do.

There were more remarks about the Queen, and Anna had told some people that asked that her refuge was not of her own choice, and that she would eventually explain it when the time came. They, of course, decided to leave a respectable distance insofar as that topic was concerned. But something that much surprised them was how she told them that the Ice Master, too, had left with her to places out of the country.

They told her that no one noticed him being gone, and she clarified that that was his twin brother Kristopher. She remembered how at one time she assumed that Kristoff was really just a shortened form of the aforementioned name, but he had clarified rather swiftly that his name was, indeed, Kristoff; so she obliged and bade his wishes best she could.

As the castle really came into the foreground, everyone began making remarks about the rapidly declining temperature, and for the first time that morning she was worried for Elsa for reasons that didn't have to do with her being in danger. Or at least the sort of danger she had assumed. The castle didn't look icy, per se, but the wind coming from it certainly was.

"She'll see what we mean this time," said a man to the front of her. She took the remark in tow, making sure to not let it get under her skin. This was her day to find out just what havoc had been wrought by that selfish man Fhin, and to reconcile with her sister. Surely she would be worried by all of what had happened. Surely this was just her way of expressing concern for the situation at hand; that she, too, wanted to see her sister so badly that nothing else really seemed to matter. Anna was sure that was exactly how she felt—nothing else seemed to matter.

Despite the cold battering her and so many others in the face, they all filtered into the massive courtyard. There was ice all about the surface, and the clambering of the people seemed to assuage as they made their way in. Many of them were making their way to the sides, and Anna took this as her cue to prove them all wrong.

As she had already had the area directly around her cleared away, she took the first step forward all on her own. Some joined her as the front door to the castle was thrown open. She led her way down the halls she had known like the back of her hand, her destination absolutely certain. It couldn't have been any other than the throne room, for sure.

As it was still day, Elsa would still be in her most attentive place so she could best attend to royal matters. _Of course she would,_ she thought in assurance. It didn't leave room for any doubt. As her armor rang through the place, she opened the door to the throne room.


	7. Chapter 7

They were still trying to keep themselves sane amidst the hectic situation in the forest. Kristoff was in the middle of trying to coordinate an effort to get more men down the mountain as the snowy creatures were still fighting with them. The Major had been coordinating the effort to direct the enemy's cannon strikes toward the scenery via distraction. There hadn't appeared to be any casualties, miraculously.

As they had battled onward, it became apparent that the opposing side was almost entirely nonverbal except for grunts and commands coming from the commanding officers, and even then they appeared to be almost non-sentient; as if they were being controlled.

"What do you make of this, Major? You seen anything like this before?" As they were standing side-by-side fighting off several men at once, they both couldn't help but notice how devoid of strategy their every move was. There had even been exclamations from both sides as to how easy it actually was as military movements were concerned.

Despite having the element of surprise, nothing the Arendellians did seemed to make much logical sense. They were simply funneling out the enlistments as if they were cannon fodder, while men manning the cannons did just that; firing away at whatever moved.

"No, I can't say I have," he said as he felt a blade nip at his thigh, "Mr. Kristoff." The blonde turned to his side, having heard the Major grunt at the injury. "It's nothing. Trust me, I've had worse." Kristoff took the information with a nod, taking note of how quickly they had moved the initiative down the mountain. Anna had, after all, informed them to move downward after an hour and a half; and though she probably had no idea how fast they were approaching, he had a feeling she was expecting the unexpected.

"Downward, men! Lead them down!" He was bellowing with such force that he sounded like 10 bards combined. One might say that he had taken the role of commanding the side of the refugees, since of course Kristoff had to deal with discerning the situation with the Major. Swords flying about, the cannons had long-since had their run as the men made their way down the mountain.

But something was particularly interesting about the Arendellians—the thing to have convinced them all that their enemy was entirely abnormal. Even with the help of the snowy creatures aiding them, it seemed that nothing could distress them. They were relentless, uncoordinated, and lacking in any real sense of reason. The thing to really cement this realization was the glint in their eyes; they looked murderous as one could notice a red hint to them completely unlike whatever shred of humanity was underneath. None of them could make sense of anything as the battling continued on.

After a while of command by the Major, they fell back in effort to simply let the snow beasts lead the first wave of attack as the soldiers drew in with the refugees to get a few beat-downs on the opponent. They had decided that it was best to simply incapacitate them. These were, after all, their brethren. Even though from two different sides (or perhaps three, considering their division of mental state), they were from the same motherland; Arendelle.

"We can see the gates, sir!" "Onward," said the Major in reply to the man who had called out from over 100 yards away over the clamber. It had divulged into a battle of endurance. No matter how many blows to the head the strange soldiers received—even from the golems and wolves—they would not retire from their fever of strikes. It had been their objective to leave all alive without any casualties, and they had thus far succeeded, but nothing could lessen their assaults.

"Miss me, Major?" The man barely had any time to react before there was a blade smacking against his with nearly enough force to send it flying.

"Alek!" he said in realization, tightening his grip on his blade. "What's gotten into you, Alek?" Their blades were clashing in rhythm, the strikes resonating with the extra clamor going on around them. Those around them were looking on amidst their squabbles as the two higher-ups were engaged in a dance of death.

"Nothing, Wilhelm. Nothing at all."

"Bullshit!" He couldn't bear to see his old friend reduced to this, not at the edge of sanity and leading an initiative certainly not his own. "Who's behind this?" He could feel the tide turning against him. The other man had always been stronger. Their sparring sessions had always proved this. He could tango with the Colonel for long periods, but could never win. And this time, on opposite sides, he couldn't help but feel it would end with bloodshed.

"Even if I told you, it wouldn't matter," he said as he carved a swath through the air, sword singing. One of his own men got in his away and he threw him to the side with such brutal force that it didn't seem possible. His eyes told of murderous impulse; of a complete disregard for life. Wilhelm was no longer talking to his old friend. This was just a shell of him. But it did nothing to explain why the man could seemingly retain some degree of awareness whereas the others were throwing themselves about as if wiping the floor of the battlefield.

"Dammit, Alek; you should know this is ridiculous." He locked blades with him, staring him dead in the face. "What has Fhin promised you?" He earned a scoff from the one just in front of him.

"_Promised_? Don't play that shit with me, Major."

"Then what?" he asked, feeling his arms giving way.

"He already _gave _it to me, Wilhelm," he said as he allowed the blade to slide past his and sink into his neck. The flesh around the blade reformed, trapping it within and snapping the edge off. He spit out the bits of metal through his mouth. Wilhelm only looked on as he was effectively disarmed. It was as if he had struck metal, but seeing the body absorb the blade like it was part of him left no doubt. He was done for. "Fhin has given us invulnerability. You can't win." The other man could say nothing as his body fell to the influence of shock. His old friend was going to _murder_ him. His body was there and his mouth was moving, but this surely wasn't Alek!

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" At that moment the Colonel felt a blade sink through his skin, right where the Major's had been assimilated into his body. Just as he was about to do the same thing he had just before, the light left his eyes completely as his body fell to the ground. Kristoff looked around to notice that all of their adversaries had fallen in much the same manner. Men were gathered around telling about the bizarreness of their foes and how their weapons had been nicked and destroyed by a bizarre force, but somehow no one had been maimed.

The blonde man extended his hand downward to the Major in an offer to help him, but the man did not stir at all. Apparently the information of their invulnerability had really done a number on him. Kristoff assumed that perhaps his indifference to the whole thing was that his everyday life had been so abnormal in any case. He spent large portions of the day talking to his reindeer, which was still tethered up near the top of the mountain for his safety. He would surely go back and ride him down the mountain when he got the chance, but he had to make sure that he wouldn't get caught up in a battle if he didn't have to.

So, bending down, Kristoff picked up the Major and walked him over to where everyone else had gathered. No one had been paying them any attention, but it appeared as if the ice creatures had gone completely motionless whenever the Arendellian soldiers fell inactive. Just as the air reached a lull, they all disappeared in a gust, leaving only the wind behind. Sparkles of ice and ticklings of vapor had danced all around in a beautiful display, but then nothing was left. Only dust and echoes of the previous skirmish.

Trees had been done over, rocks had been blown to pieces and men had been rocked place to place by other men and beasts. With the scene clear of battle, the sight of swords scattered all around made the entire scape look desolate. Their efforts had, collectively, carved a path of destruction all the way down the mountain; for at least ¾ of a mile. It seemed unthinkable, but the battle hadn't resulted in any losses. They would make it all the down the mountain in one piece, it seemed.

As Kristoff looked to the men in the distance, he took the Major slowly to where they were. It was some sort of an overpass—it looked odd, considering the scenery. The cliff below led to rocks and the water of the fjord. _Looks like a 200 foot drop. Yeesh. _

"Look, Kristoff." said the man just to his right. He had to gather his wits for a moment, but then his eyes were functioning just fine like before. What he saw was quite befuddling, indeed.

"The gates are open? What the?" And from what little he could see, there didn't appear to be anyone in sight. He could already hear the others coming from behind him to clarify what he had already said. _How are the gates open, _they all thought. But the one answer they could all think of seemed to explain everything.

_Anna._

* * *

><p>"Elsa!" she said as she threw the door open to see just what was inside the throne room. Immediately she became aware of an immense draft, and she could already feel hands pushing on her back to yield admission to the room as well. She took a few steps in to see an empty throne and many frozen-over artifacts. The pieces she had put in there during her time as Queen had been especially frosted. <em>Elsa? <em>She thought aloud as others were already making comments about her obvious lack of appearance and the condition of the space. It looked as if no one had walked into the place in an eternity, and felt like an icebox, to boot.

"Elsa?" she called out as she allowed her gaze to narrow on the throne itself. There seemed to be a very slight outline of where her form had once occupied it, and then she noticed very slight indentations in the otherwise uniform layer of frost all about the floor. _This must've been her way out. _But that alone didn't tell her what she wanted. She _wanted _to see her sister. And yet she wasn't here.

"We told her. We all told her," she heard all of the people saying in different configurations as they all took turns to see what she had seen, filtering in and out of the throne room like it was nothing special. She had built her kingdom up in this room; she had spoken with her sister in this room; she had made a special place under this room. _No! No, Anna! _She wouldn't allow herself to think on that, not while she was unaware of something as important as her sister's whereabouts.

As she was holding her head to rein herself in, she heard a slight scuffling against the floor, picking up her sight to see what it was.

"What are you doing?" she asked to the boy who was down on the floor.

"She left just recently," he said in response. Anna's eyes went wide in realization. Not only had this boy taken the time to really look at the situation, but he had figured out that Elsa could be traced by the path she left in her own ice.

"How can you tell?" she asked shakily. There was certainly no way that this was any normal boy, that much she knew.

"I've met her before." It seemed like much too small of a response to carry the weight she so needed; the justification that would make it real.

"Sorry, but as her sister, I should tell you that that isn't near enough to be able to tell." The little boy just shrugged.

"Well, if it's anything, I am like you and her."

"In what way?" she asked.

"I'm an orphan, too. My parents were killed by a shop owner for stealing." Anna had her hand on his back in less than a second, smoothing out his shirt.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Your sister was the first to hear." Anna was taken aback by his forwardness. It was as if talking to the Queen wasn't a big deal or something, and that she just couldn't comprehend. She picked up his face to look him in the eye.

"How did it happen," she asked.

"Well, I had heard that the Queen wasn't much acting like herself. People in the kingdom had been saying so for ages." Anna frowned. "But that's not the point. I never truly believed them. I wanted to see for myself, and after my parents died I thought it would be the perfect grievance. For what it was worth." He shrugged once again. "I didn't really know if she would just throw me out or not; I didn't even know if she would be here. I only ever heard how she holed herself up in here, and since the gates were always open," he took a second to pause as he saw Anna smile, "I didn't really see the hurt in at least asking her. She seemed like she needed a visit, considering all the things people said about her."

They allowed themselves to zone out, even as other people were filing in and out of the large room, some people even calling over to them but earning silence in response. The boy felt a hand tap at his shoulder gently.

"So?" she asked with a little incline at the end to make her query clear. "How'd it happen?" The boy seemed to perk up a bit at her words, then he took a second to think it through. Anna could almost see the memory replaying behind his eyes. She felt herself warm at the sight. Then, he opened his mouth to speak, but then took another second in hesitation. "It's all right," she said, "just say it." At that he smiled.

"Well, I made my way to the castle as quietly as I could, since I didn't want anyone to think I was up to no good." Anna nodded her head, urging him on. "I made my way into the castle and was quite mesmerized at the cold of the place, but still amazed to see all the workers going about maintain things like it was all normal. And I suppose it was in away, since after all that time you would probably just get used to it." He took a gulp to soothe his throat. "I was surprised that apparently they didn't much mind me entering the castle unaccompanied. The last time I had come was with my parents, but I entered in and wandered the halls, looking for her space, and then I saw it. Into the halls there was oozing this intense cold from a cracked door; as if it was left open just to let the people know something was there."

He felt the hand at his back clench, and he looked up to her as if he did something wrong. Anna caught his gaze as she looked down to him from her previously hostile expression, but she changed rather quickly. She rubbed him once again to tell him nothing was amiss.

"I eased the door open just barely after I had marveled at the sight. It really was something. I was amazed at the draft that met me. It was bitter at first," he said as he rubbed his hands together, like he was still remembering the feeling. "But then it softened I guess. The door was throwing itself at me anymore like it was; blowing open into me. Then I just creaked it open to see what was inside. At that point I was really surprised no one in the castle came to see what all the fuss was, but it didn't stop me from thinking that perhaps this was also part of the open doors policy."

Anna said nothing. He took another moment, clearly enthralled in whatever memory he was harboring.

"From there I took in all the sights of the throne room. I'm sure most people have never seen it before."

"Not at all," Anna said.

"Well I never had until then. And once I did, I knew for sure that I'd never forget it. The first things I drew my eyes to were the portraits all over the walls. They all looked to tell a story of great history, and then the floor and how frosted it was. Everywhere I looked it was as if everything was just barren and cold, but somehow it didn't bother me." He paused once again. "After I looked amazed at some more things, I let my eyes settle on the Queen herself."

"How'd she look?" Anna asked with a smile.

"Incredible. Like nothing I'd ever seen before. That's really all I could say, truthfully. But I also knew that something was different about her; at least from how I had heard her described before becoming Queen." Anna just nodded. It certainly wasn't the first time she had heard such information. "So I made a slow advance to her throne, and the whole time she looked as if she was just staring through me. And I guess that really was the case because it seemed like no matter how I moved—not like I was moving out of sorts—but she didn't really notice I existed."

Anna was lost in thought as to how her sky-blue eyes must've looked in that moment. But imagining them just looking on droningly bothered her beyond words. She shook her head imperceptibly, but listened on just as she had been.

He said, "At that point I wasn't really sure what to say. I thought for a moment and then just figured it was best to take a knee before her throne. At first it was biting cold, due to the tears in my trousers, but I dealt with it best I could. I wasn't really sure what to say to her, or if I should've been there in the first place; or if she was even who I should be asking. But she was the only one I could imagine understanding in the least." He took another few seconds to discern how it had all happened.

"So I just told her that my parents had died and who I was. It seemed rather unlike me, or really any human I suppose, for how easy the words came to me. To think that my parents had really died was unthinkable, but there I was telling the Queen of Arendelle my plight. And that's when I really knew something for sure, because…"

"Because?" Anna asked. She looked as if nothing else mattered but hearing his answer.

"She stirred," he said. "It was the first time I had ever seen her regal self move. Granted I had seen her address the public maybe once or twice, and in those few times she had appeared especially graceful; but it was something to see her in movement up-close like that. It was amazing."

"And then?" Anna asked.

"Well, she still didn't say anything. At that point I just felt lost. I almost thought for a second or two that what the people said was true, but I wouldn't believe it. So I did what I thought I could do—or really what any boy of 10 years could do—I cried." Anna was smoothing his back in a rhythm at this point, and she didn't show any signs of stopping—not so long as this boy was like he was. "And I cried and cried. I just couldn't deal with everything that had happened. My papa always told me that the world would give you what you wanted so long as you worked for it, but as I laid there—here—on the cold floor bawling out I didn't think anything in the world would ever work out for me again." He actually started sniffling at the memory.

"But then I suddenly felt warm. The frost at my feet began disappearing all around me and the frost all over the room was just lifting up and off like it was never there, and then I just felt everything warming up. I felt all of that before even picking my head up, because somehow I knew that I didn't have to. Something just told me that everything was okay. And then I felt something embrace me." He paused. "And then we just cried together. I didn't know whether or not it was even happening, but I certainly felt tears falling on me. And I didn't care about anything else. It felt like I had gotten some sort of acceptance." He sniffled once more. "And that's how it happened," he said.

He didn't hear anything from the one beside him, prompting him to look up, but he found that he couldn't. There was a pair of arms fast around his neck and he felt a shuddering body enwrap his with great strength. He could feel points of armor dig into him, but the warmth of it made him forget about any feelings against it. Slowly, he brought up his arms around her as he felt the gasps reaching him.

"Thank you so much," was all she could say through teary eyes. She rubbed him soothingly, and all the while she couldn't help the feeling of bliss that wracked her body in waves. Just knowing that Elsa was still there, loving and all, gave her the strength that she needed. _Elsa's still there! _She couldn't help but feel the giddiness of her childhood, and she much welcomed it. Amidst her holding of the boy, she allowed chitters of laughter to seep out in her cries, and she much didn't care. It just felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her and put somewhere else entirely.

And it was all because the boy had told her that much that she needed to be certain of what Elsa had done; or rather that she could still do it. Even despite at that point all the people had said that she was changed, what the boy said proved that she still had the capacity to thaw her magic. And Anna knew exactly what that meant. It could only mean that Elsa could still _love, _and love she most certainly could. And why would the boy be telling anything but the truth?

He had met Elsa, and Anna was the would-be Queen, and just—well, none of that mattered. She knew for sure that her sister was still there, somewhere. Even if she had yet to truly lay eyes upon her again; what with having been separated for far too long. The year had passed by like an eternal moon, her and Kristoff trying to make sense of things out of the country after having been driven out. But they had found their way back; they had found the way back for many people, in fact. And as much as Anna wouldn't want to admit it because it would make her sound so selfish; both the reason she had to leave and the reason she had returned was _her_. Unconditionally, unequivocally, in every way, it had been her and no other.

The kingdom barely held any importance in comparison to the platinum blonde. She was her _life. _Naught much else mattered. She would do whatever she had to to maintain the sanctity of her family, or whatever it really was. She just wanted to make sure that her sister was out of harm's way. But more than that she wanted Elsa to be _safe and with her. _And after hearing what the boy had said—that she could still love—she felt that it was still possible.

Even after all the things the people had said, she was still there. And that made Anna happy. Slowly she descended from her high and she could hear the words of other people filtering into her senses. The boy was rubbing at her armored back in soothing strokes, placating her. He said nothing, just waited for her to come back to Earth. She smiled, and pulled back. She smoothed his hair with a hand as she looked him in the face. _I really do owe you one, kid. _

"What's your name?" she asked. The boy smiled a toothy grin, letting the happiness pour out. "Donovan," he said, and then repeated himself. "Donovan." She rubbed the top of his endearingly.

"Well, Donovan, you really should know that I'm thankful to have met you."

"Why's that?" he asked. She really wasn't expecting him to ask, but then she figured that it only made sense to return the sort of curiosity she had displayed.

"To tell you the truth, I was worried there that I had lost my sister somehow. I didn't want to believe it." She felt the boy return the gesture to her; rubbing the top of her head.

"Neither did I," he said, still smiling. Anna's eyes were wide, then she allowed herself to smile.

"You've got some guts, kid." she said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, I thought for sure that no one could've been right in saying that Elsa was just some wraith. There was no way that would be true. I may not have seen her at all for five years straight—and kind of been not really sorta officially shut out by her for 13 years—but I knew that there must have been some reason for it all." She paused for breath.

"I later found out on the day of her coronation that very reason. And so did all of the other people. _She had ice powers! _Was all I could think in the moment. Then she fled and.. I ended up becoming Queen as you know. I didn't really come to terms with that until the five years passing after her being gone. I can still remember how amazed I felt after meeting her at the top of the North Mountain." She laughed just a little bit.

"Funny thing is, I was asked by her to come up there. It came by way of a letter to the castle, and as I read it I thought that either whoever had sent it was awful pretentious, or that it was from my sister. I can still remember exactly what it said, in fact." She cleared her throat to sound as regal as possible. She may have been pretty good at it in her lessons, but somehow her sister had this unmatchable sonority she had never heard from anyone else.

"It said: "_Queen Anna. It has been a great while since our last meeting. I have journeyed far and wide per the wishes of a pair of people, but I believe a reunion is in measure. Meet me at the top of the North Mountain alone. You'll know who I am._" She took another opportunity to giggle. "It was just so silly because she signed it 'E.A.' How many people do I know close to me with those initials? It was like she doubted I could even remember who she was." But then her expression turned serious.

"What is it, Queen Anna?" asked the boy. Immediately her guise softened.

"Please, just call me Anna."

"Okay." he said. "But why'd you get all serious right then?" Anna sighed.

"Well, the truth is that I really wasn't all that happy to see her. Well, okay I was 'angry' with her for leaving and whatnot but I really was happy beyond words that she showed a sign of herself again. I had looked all over for her for so long, and then for her to just turn up like that out of nowhere really did things to me. It felt like yet another thing she 1-upped me at doing. Even though our parents had 'favored me' or whatever that was supposed to mean, I always knew how smart Elsa was. Smart as a whip, for sure." She took a pause.

"So I calmed my nerves as best I could and told the castle staff that I would be taking a leave of my own volition and that I should go alone. Knowing my skill with the sword, they left me to it. Honestly the walk up the North Mountain took ages, but I relished in the scenery and just took it all in." She took a deep breath. "Before long I was at the top and looking her in the face. I just couldn't believe it. To be looking upon her once again seemed unthinkable, but there she was. She looked as beautiful as always; no, even more so. Her icy armor and everything made her look totally different." Her thoughts drifted away, causing Donovan to tap her lightly to get her attention back.

"What happened?" he asked. Anna just smiled.

"I guess you could say we made up. She just decided to come back, it seemed. But I could tell she changed a lot, and had obviously gotten a lot of control over her powers. I felt so glad to have my sister back."

"Then why did you leave?" he asked. She felt almost like a knife had been driven through her, but the air in her chest had nowhere to go.

"I-I…"

"It's all right." he said. "You don't have to tell me." And for a moment Anna could feel a rise of arrogance; a swell of pompous assurance at the fact he was right. She was the rightful Queen and he was just a boy. She could practically do whatever she wanted. But she had none of it.

"No, it's just that.. I'm not even sure I can face it," she said, letting the breath leave her till there was none left.

"It's alright," he said. She smiled. Only then did they notice the group of people gathered around them, many of whom were crying.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Welp, that's all I've got pre-written. Not really sure where I got the idea for my OC Fhin, but he just kinda happened lol Next chapters will be fresh. Be sure to leave a review ;)**


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